Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-05-25

lie Knew thai he was innocent, but
how was he to prove itP He had al
ways had stainless reputation, and
now he was in prison accused OF
murder! He thought Of the grief and
shame it would cause to his friends.
then he broke down and cried like q
child.
After that he remembered nothing.
When the jailer came with his break.
fast he found him staring at the blank
wall Of his cell. He spoke to him, but
the prisoner did not move. Loften was
mad. E !,
He was committed to an insane
asylum, but the judge made a %stipula-
ton that if he should ever recover his
reason he should be tried for murder.
For seven years Charles Loften was
IN the insane asylum. He ate and
slept and was taken out to walk by a
nurse with some of the other patients,
but ne never spoke and he never APP
Peared to notice anybody or anything
At the end of seven years his reason
suddenly returned. Everything was
clear up to the night of his imprison-
ment, but of the time he had spent in
the asylum he remembered nothing.
The court was notified that he had
recovered his reason, and a time was
set for his trial. a, ~ IL
On the night before Charles Loften's
trial a robbery was attempted in a
neighboring town. '-.~3
Between one and two in the morning
the me of a handsome place on the
outskirts of the town was awakened
and thought he heard some one moving
in the house. He got up and went to
the door and found that some one was
moving about in the library.
The house VAS lighted by electricity,
and by pressing a button at the head
of the stairs the light could be turned
on all over the first floor.
This he did, andin an instant every
room was lighted. I'd -.
Two men who had been cropping
about in the darkness were at first
blinded and stupeied by the bright light
coming so suddenly; then they came to
their senses and ran. and as the proprie-
tor hurried down stairs he saw them
running through the house and escap-
ing by a side door.
As the men crossed the yard the
night Waterman saw them and fired
his pistol. The foremost man fell, but
the other made good his escape.
On the first day of Lotions trial a
jury had been selected. a few witnesses
had been called and the court adjourn
ed.
On tho second day of the trial, just
as the third witness was about to take
the stand, a note was handed to the
judge. -.
It stated that, on examining the
wounds of the burglar who had been
shot in the neighboring town two
nights before, it had been found that he
could not live, and on learning this the
man made a confession.
He said that even or eight years be.
fore he and one of his companions had
murdered a man in Dead Mans Canon
and robbed him ofsome valuable papers
which he had in his possession.
He knew that an innocent man had
been arrested, but thought he would be
acquitted. He had afterwards learned
that the man, whose name was Charles
Loften, had become insane and was
placed in an asylum.
The man who listened to the story,
knowing that Loften was now on
trial for this crime. had sent for a jus
tice and had the man make an aHda-
Wit, which he sent at once to the court.
When the Judge had read the note
the affidavit was sworn to, and Charles
Loften, after seven years. imprison-
ment for a crime he had never COM
mitted, was once more at liberty.